Side Tracks: Culture in Northwest Montana
Side Tracks is the Daily Inter Lake’s podcast exploring the people and ideas shaping culture in northwest Montana. From Flathead Valley musicians to chefs, each episode spotlights the creatives and tastemakers defining life in and around the Flathead Valley region.
Through in-depth conversations and live sessions, Side Tracks takes you inside the process - how songs get written, menus get built and creative communities take root in Montana. The podcast also features episodes from our Press Play series, with interviews and live performances recorded in the Daily Inter Lake press room floor.
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Side Tracks: Culture in Northwest Montana
Going-to-the-Sun Road: The History, the Wonder & the Documentary Captured by Two Montana Brothers
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Two brothers from Arlee, Montana set out to film a documentary about snowplow crews, and ended up uncovering the full, untold story of one of America's most iconic roads. In this episode of Side Tracks, reporter Taylor Inman walks the Going-to-the-Sun Road with filmmakers Jordan and Logan Lefler, whose documentary 'Journey to the Sun' traces the legendary road from its earliest history as Indigenous homeland through the death-defying construction era of the early 20th century, all the way to the crews who risk their lives each spring to plow it open today.
The Leflers share how a chance presentation on road-clearing operations sparked a filmmaking obsession, how a near-cancellation pushed them to tell a bigger, better story, and what it really takes - bulldozers without reverse, 400 hand-installed wooden guardrails, aerial footage strapped to a 20-foot pole - to open this mountain highway every single season. With sold-out premieres across Montana and a PBS broadcast on the horizon, this is a conversation for anyone who has ever driven the Going-to-the-Sun Road and never thought twice about what it took to get there.
Find upcoming premiere dates: https://journeytothesun.com
Check out more videos from the Lefler brothers: https://www.youtube.com/@LeflerBros
Read our story about the documentary's release: https://hungryhorsenews.com/news/2026/jun/10/arlee-brothers-complete-sun-road-documentary/
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All right, I'm here with Jordan and Logan Leffler, their filmmakers from R. Lee, and they've just made a documentary about the going to the Sunroad. We're walking the Sun Road a little bit today and just chatting about the film. You know, I just kind of wanted to know first off, like what made you guys want to make this?
SPEAKER_01Yeah, I uh I've done a few partnerships with the Glacier Conservancy. Yeah. The nonprofit partner of the park. And um, during one of my photography showings uh and presentations with them, they announced the following one where um they were going to have Brian Paul, the road supervisor, and uh some of the other uh roads crew actually give a presentation on plowing the road and uh what that took. And so I was like, that sounds interesting, I'll I'll sign up for that. And so I sat through that presentation and uh during the whole thing my my wheels just started turning and I was like, this would make for an incredible film, and so that was kind of where we got the idea for for it all.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, the the plowing and all of that is so interesting. Um, so it sounds like that was kind of the starting off call for you guys. But um, I mean, you guys are obviously from the area. What was your experience like in the park and with the Sunroad before the film?
SPEAKER_02Uh I it's funny we I mean we grew up in early just uh a couple hours south of here, but we never really grew up coming here. And I think the first time that I remembered coming here was in like high school. I don't know, I was like 18 or 16, and I just remember going up, uh getting close to uh just going past the loop and starting to see the valley like open up and just feeling like wow, this place like this is a real place that exists, it's just like so close to home. And uh yeah, I think that kind of opened opened my eyes to the glacier and going the sun road.
SPEAKER_00You guys are filmmakers, photographers. How did you get into that?
SPEAKER_01So I actually got a skateboard for my 10th birthday, and um we have another brother, and so the the three of us all got skateboards, and then our friends got skateboards and our cousins, and pretty soon there's like 15 of us in uh Ray who all had skateboards, and we saw what the the professional skateboarders were doing, making films, and um it kind of turned into uh one of our goals to make a skate film. So we got a camera and we filmed ourselves for a summer, and um our uh our teachers in school actually let the class watch our skate film, and so that was kind of like uh our first introduction, you know, dipping our toes into the the world of filmmaking and seeing like how uh you can influence a group of people and like um they'll be moved by your art that you made. Um so then you know skateboarding turned into uh filming like all young men do, jackass stunts and um uh filming sketch comedy, poorly written sketch comedy, and uh then uh when it was time to graduate and you know go to college, I saw that the University of Montana had a media arts school. So I attended that and got a um a degree in that, and then Logan actually started out in the media arts school and then ended up I was interested in it, and uh I just had a hard time in the program.
SPEAKER_02I think it would had more to do with where I was at a stage of my life than the actual program itself, but uh obviously it did great things for him. Um I ended up transitioning and going to business school, and so I got my business degree at the University of Montana, and I had a job lined out uh with a tech company in Missoula shortly after graduating, and then COVID happened and they kind of pulled that out from under me, so then I didn't I was left uh kind of just like wondering what I was gonna do next, and then he started uh just like he's like, Okay, I know he's Logan's camera savvy, and he can edit and film and take pictures and whatever. So he started then handing work over his shoulder to his younger brother, and so I was able to kind of get some reps in, and uh I don't know, just one thing kind of led to another, and here we are now running our own business together and making films and telling uh the stories that we want to tell, and just uh yeah, we're very fortunate.
SPEAKER_00That's so cool. Um, is the business like the documentaries and the films, or is there like a commercial aspect to it, or how's that work?
SPEAKER_01I mean, we've we've done every type of type of project there is. We've done, you know, elopements, weddings, uh uh aesthetician videos, you know, all sorts of corporate things. Um, but the the documentary stuff and the short forms are uh really where you feel like you can make an impact or a difference on something that's very important to you. And so we do fill a lot of our time with the client work, you know, that helps pay the bills. Um, but the the projects like this are the ones that we get the most fulfillment out of. And so um we uh we kind of gravitate towards uh trying to tell, you know, one of these a year where we get to um uh tell about either whether it's our our hometown on the Flathead Indian Reservation. Um we've done a lot of short films for the uh uh Salish Kootney technologies and um how they're giving back to the the uh the community there and making a difference on the reservation and um also you know Glacier as well. We've we've fell fallen in love with this place, and uh you know if we're able to tell a story and make a difference and feel like you know people can resonate with that along the way, then um those are the the projects we kind of tend to gravitate towards.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, so what are some of the other films you guys have done?
SPEAKER_02Uh let's see. We've done uh we've done a couple short films on uh like PSA style ones on suicide awareness. Uh those are those were under the warrior movement kind of uh brand that was uh turned into um actually an a national kind of suicide awareness campaign. Um then we've done some uh fly fishing, uh short film video essays. We have uh a really cool one called River Dog about one of our beloved dogs who grew up on the river fly fishing with us and uh telling her story. Um he let's see, we've done two, three, two now that were on TBS, uh telling the story of the little mining town of Phillipsburg, Montana. Uh and then there was one, so that was Saving the Berg.
SPEAKER_01And then what was the the second D? The other one was a follow-up to that um that was gonna kind of focus on the this new generation in Phillipsburg, but um we started filming that and then a little thing called COVID happened, and in the middle of this production, we realized we were kind of perfectly poised to uh capture what was happening to Montana during the uh pandemic, and so we kind of broadened our scope and uh focused on what was happening in Callspell, Missoula, Bozeman. Um in uh during COVID when people were flocking here, you know, uh leaving bigger cities and metropolitan areas and coming here. And we included uh a portion on Glacier in that documentary as well, and just you know what the uh the impact from the visitation was um during that time. So yeah, we've done a lot of short films like that, um, and then a couple of longer documentaries as well that were on Montana PBS.
SPEAKER_02And those uh have a sailors from Kuchni Technologies, as one of our clients, all of their dividends stories that they want to tell, those are all short films about uh the cultural programs that they give their company gives back to, and it could be language revitalization, um cultural preservation. But yeah, and then uh we've told uh the story of the the national bison range that uh Salish and Kootney uh tribes have since uh reclaimed ownership of. And the three Chiefs cultural center in Ablow, which is a very very cool place to go and learn about the history of our indigenous tribes and in the uh the Mission Valley and uh the whole Flathead Valley too. Um but yeah, just a little bit of everything.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's awesome. How long have you guys been doing this again?
SPEAKER_01Um, I mean, I was like still in high school and uh created a little business. I was filming highlight videos of my brother and wrestling and football when he was still in high school. Um, so you know, unprofessionally, it feels like you know, 20 years, but I'd say professionally it's been about 12 or 13 for myself, yeah.
SPEAKER_00So, what went into making the documentary about the summer?
SPEAKER_01It's been a process. We uh um coming into the park and having to film here uh required a film permit, and so we applied for that, and um that took quite a bit to get, and so we were kind of slow out of the gate waiting for um the film permit to fall in line, and uh funding as well, that was another aspect of it. Um we don't have the the money ourselves to create a documentary of this size, so you have to you have to go out and raise funds through you know grants, um asking for money for you know organizations, businesses. Um so it was it was kind of uh serendipitous. The film almost didn't get made. So we uh um initial conversations with the park, we thought we were gonna focus more on the plow crews themselves and maybe to be you know up with them and filming while they're working. Um and I remember um getting an email from the park and they said like, oh we talked with uh the uh the folks on the the plow crews and we have some information that's gonna impact your documentary. And I remember like reading that and just thinking, oh, this is it, like we're probably not gonna do this project. And then literally that same day, I get an email that we got our first grant. We were awarded our first grant for the film, and so it was like we're at this crossroads where we're like, okay, do we just give up and roll over, you know, or do we find some way to make this project happen? And so we started to think bigger than just the uh the plow crews, and so we're able to expand the story to include um the construction of the road, um, and then even before that, how the area was used by our indigenous tribes, you know, the CSKT on the west, blackfeet on the east, and um, including some of that knowledge and that history, because a lot of people that visit the park are not from the state, and so we felt, you know, especially growing up on an Indian reservation and our grandmother being a tribal member, it was very important to us to include that in the story of the road. Um, so that was a part of it, and then we expanded the story to include um a little bit of the plow cruise, obviously, but um beyond that, some of the ways that the uh glacier just you know special to so many people. Um, so that includes uh Native America Speaks program and a lot of the programs that the Glacier Conservancy puts in here. Um so it grew from just you know a story about the plow cruise to you know to not getting uh what we thought we were gonna make to getting this grant and then like finding a way to like tell a bigger story. And ultimately I think it was the right move to include more than just the plow cruise.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, I think it's gonna be such a cool history of the park in general overview. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Well, we had to get very creative about uh how we could visually tell um some of the stories and the elements of the film that we wanted to. So Glacier being a national park, there are laws and regulations against certain things like drones or for safety reasons we couldn't be out with the plow crew. Um so we had to get creative and how we were gonna uh include those things uh in the film without it just being talking head interview stuff the whole time. So we we've been able to work closely with the archives here at the park and get a lot of really good historical footage from them. Um we've been able to get a lot of really cool footage from the uh what is it? The really cobbled the video like memory project. No, no, no, the national park where they get access to all the news, whatever.
SPEAKER_01Oh, the park has their own YouTube um where they post videos and as a as a public entity, they said any video on here is public domain. And so we were able to use any video that the park had posted on their YouTube.
SPEAKER_00Good to know. Yeah.
SPEAKER_02We also uh so like you can't fly a drone in the park, so one of the things we did was uh strap a camera on top of a 20-foot pole and to try and simulate some aerial footage. And another really helpful resource for us was uh USGS. They they actually let us use uh aerial footage that they had captured from a helicopter or a plane or something. Wasn't that USGS?
SPEAKER_01Because they're also uh um a government entity, they have the capability and the access to um do that. And so they they were filming the uh the plow crews and also something else for Avalanche safety. And so we we were able to get that footage from them and to be able to plug it into the documentary.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, with the plow crews, I mean obviously I I saw you guys on Media Day last year, um, but they don't let anybody go up there any time, I guess. Right. Did you guys get to go up there other times outside of Media Day? Like what was that like?
SPEAKER_01We probably bike the road between a half dozen and a dozen times just during the spring to try and get V Roll of the Road before it opens, you know, and while some of that winter's still clinging, you know. Um so to do that we we got e-bikes and we had a a little bike trailer because it's it's hard to bike up this road with the amount of camera equipment that we need. Um, and so we were riding our e-bikes up there uh more times than I can count last spring. Um and some might say it's cheating, but I felt like we we needed uh we needed all the help we can get to you know the amount of times that we're gonna bike this thing and just uh do it in a way to uh be able to help tell the story.
SPEAKER_02Also, my bike was all uh cart, so bike classic.
SPEAKER_00Oh, you don't have to tell me about using a knee bike up this road. That's all I ever used. Um Well that probably that was still good exercise anyway.
SPEAKER_02It is, yeah.
SPEAKER_00That's cool. So um I assume you guys are also filming in the middle of a season and when people were here, when the river was open. Um what was that like logistically? Because I know it's not always easy to get him here when there's a lot of people.
SPEAKER_01That that's part of the story we were trying to tell, also, is um just like the pressure that the park faces um from over visitation. Um and a lot of people weren't fans of the reservation systems, but I can understand why it's in place, um, and I can appreciate that. Not that I, you know, want to be excluded to when I can visit the park, um, but like I understand why it's there and why it's in place, and I can appreciate that. So um we were up at Logan Pass at 6 a.m. a lot of times to time-lapse the park filling up and to time-lapse, you know, cars pulling in just to like kind of capture the mayhem that that that was like, you know, in the last couple summers. Um, and then going down here to the uh the visitor entrance in West Glacier and you know, getting the the cars going out to the highway and just like lined up. Um so we we uh purposefully put ourselves in into a lot of those uh um chaotic, chaotic, you know, visitation times just to capture what what it's like in here um because everybody wants to get in here and drive the road.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, um do you guys get any parking lot fights at Logan?
SPEAKER_01No parking lot fights. Uh it happened.
SPEAKER_02Yeah, yeah, or you you'll see people uh lay in a parking spot so nobody else can go preserve it. Yep, yeah.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's amazing. I used to work at Logan. Um actually used to work for the conservancy. Yeah, we do the retail stuff. Nice, yeah. So um, I love them obviously. So that's cool. You guys got to work it very well. Yeah. Um yeah, well that I mean definitely that's a big part of the park now, which is the visitation aspect, how many people are coming here. That'll be so interesting to see this year without the reservation system, like how things change.
SPEAKER_02Yep, yeah, yep.
SPEAKER_00What was the most surprising thing you guys learned when making this?
SPEAKER_02Um one of the for me, I think one of the most surprising things was the everything that has to take place uh once they've even cleared the road. So even though one once the road is uh uh cleared and a car can physically drive over it, they still have to put up 400 of those wooden guardrails and which is I think that's about a mile of those wooden guardrails, and uh each one requires eight, I think, big like yeah, big bolts, and they have to crane them in, so it's just a huge process, and I think that's like a very big public misconception is how many people think, oh well, I've I've rode my bike up to the loop and it looks clear to me. So yeah, right. Well, even though it might look clear, there's still a lot of work that has to be done to make it safe for people to drive the road.
SPEAKER_01Yeah. People will see, you know, on the webcam, oh, the plow crews made it to Logan Pass. The road's open. But once they make it there, it's two weeks of doing what Logan was talking about, putting up guardrails, also clearing the road of uh hazards. Uh, because it's not just snow. Once the snow melts, then you know, avalanche hazards are gone, but the uh the rocks are continuously coming down onto the road, and um the park does not want to open it until it's a hundred percent safe. And so not only do you have to deal with um the avalanches, but also rock fall as well.
SPEAKER_02We missed it, dang it. Dang it.
SPEAKER_01You'll let us know if the bear comes up behind us, right, Seth? When it's close enough to be in the front. All right. Um, so yeah, and then one of the other very interesting things that we found out was um we interviewed a gentleman who was um he worked on the plow crew a while ago, and he's kind of uh uh historian of the park now. His name's Bill Dakin, and he told us during World War II they actually didn't plow the road that year. And he said a couple of guys would go up and like chip at the snow here and there, but they didn't dedicate a plow crew to it. And you weren't there was not a single lane able to drive until August all the way through. So if you left the road, it would take until August to melt out, which a lot of people don't think about. And I think the park faces a lot of pressure from uh the community, uh commercial interests to get the road open as fast as possible. Um, but they're doing it in a way that is safe for all the plow crews and all the avalanche spotters and everybody who's up there in a way you know to make sure that they make it home safely every day. Because there have been uh people that died on plow crews. There's a gentleman who actually rolled his bulldozer off of Logan Pass and survived. Um, and we were lucky enough to be able to interview him, and so he'll. Be he'll be in the film telling his story, but um yeah, I think the park faces a lot of pressure that uh is maybe a little unwarranted. People, you know, don't realize what what the conditions are like there up at you know 6,000 feet versus down in the valley. So they're they're only seeing what's down in the valley, they're not seeing what's at Logan Pass at 6,000 feet.
SPEAKER_00For the World War II stuff, was that just because um you know people were at war like they didn't have enough guys?
SPEAKER_01It was um I think a shortage of fuel. Oh yeah. Um and then possibly yeah, also uh not being staffed fully because you know guys were at war.
SPEAKER_00Yeah. That's so cool. It's it's neat that you got to talk to somebody who survived an accident like that. I always think about that when we do the media day. Like uh I remember there was one guy that told me once that uh those big heavy machines up there, when the snow starts to melt, sometimes they'll be like you know, doing their thing and it just goes, you know, because the snow with them he's like, it just really makes your stomach drop, and it's like, yeah, I bet it's okay.
SPEAKER_02You also learned that during the construction of the road that the uh the dozers they were using that uh didn't have uh reverse so you would take it and uh clear all the debris, like you may blast and do whatever and clear all the debris off, and one dozer would push it all off, but he couldn't back up. So the other they had to be chained together, so then the the guy on another dozer would then pull him back on the road because he couldn't back up. So it's just it's crazy to think that how I mean that would feel really sketchy, but also just like how much they were able to do with uh limited. Yeah, the limited technology at that point.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, no, that's insane. What are you guys hoping the audiences take from this?
SPEAKER_01I think uh most of all just a better appreciation of who was here before the park was here, um, what it took to build the road, you know, the sacrifices that were made. Uh, another tidbit we found out is that three people died just building the road. Which actually sounds like a miracle when you see some of the photos and the footage of what um guys were doing to survey the road and uh build it, and then um what it takes to maintain it and open it. And so just hoping to give people a better appreciation of the history of the park and the road itself, and then the people who are here now who are you know dedicating their careers to this place um and letting the public get in here and enjoy their their public spaces.
SPEAKER_02I think we all just kind of look at the park and just kind of can take it for granted the the access that we get to it. Um and considering that this was uh historically indigenous land and that now it's a national park that we can all enjoy, but we shouldn't take that for granted because yeah, there's a lot of people that risk their lives to open the road for us to be able to access all of that beautiful country up there and uh yeah, I guess it's it's just a monumental effort every year that uh a lot of people don't quite realize what goes into it. So I think it's really just trying to get people to wrap their heads around how how big of an effort it is and how dangerous it can be, and they're all doing it for us to be able to go in and join and do so safely. Yeah.
SPEAKER_01And doing it because they love Glacier. Everybody that we interviewed who works in the park, you can like see the passion in uh uh their interview and like how they talk about the place and just how they you know spent their cur their careers in this place. Um actually retired and are now retired since you know we started the film and are gonna end it. Um and uh it was felt really cool to be able to kind of like capture the last bit of their uh um their careers in the park and you know have that memorialized.
SPEAKER_00Yeah, that's so special.
SPEAKER_02It's cool to to George Boyne. Um it's been really incredible to see how a place can mean so much to so many people. Um, and it's not just the people that that work here or uh live here. There are a lot of people that travel to come here. And seeing how Glacier just has this uh profound world-renowned reverence is pretty special. You've got something special, hey.
SPEAKER_00Oh my gosh, yeah. No, I'll get emotional thinking of us. All right, you guys have some premieres around the state. I saw the cowspells already. Um the cowspell ones already sold out. Um, so that's awesome. But uh, if you guys are interested, you can catch premieres at other cities in Montana. Um, and that can be found on your website.
SPEAKER_01That's correct.
SPEAKER_02Yep, journey to the sunfilm.com. Yeah, yeah. So we have we'll have a whole list on there of all the other premieres. Uh Missoula will be the second one. We'll be coming back to the Flathead Valley two more times to uh Big Fork and Whitefish. Um so for anybody in the Flathead Valley that missed it, we'll be back. Don't worry about that.
SPEAKER_01Um we'll also be in Helena at the Myrna Loy Theater. Um, and then we're talking with uh uh Theater in Hamilton to show one there, uh, and also Bozeman. So we're gonna we're gonna try to get the the film as you know far across the state as we can get it. And we've had interest in um Lander, Wyoming as well to come show the film there, and uh we're we have a showing that we're gonna do in Portland. So uh the uh the community um response to the film has been overwhelming. We we didn't think we would sell out the the washolds with this much time to go, you know, before the premiere. Um, and then have more people asking, you know, when they can see it. Uh and so we're really it's it's been humbling just to see how many people are who are kind of placing their faith in us and they haven't even seen the finished product, you know, um, but they're they're all so excited for the story.
unknownTotally.
SPEAKER_02Phillipsburg is also on the list. Yes, and very well. Phillipsburg, actually, a little tidbit for you. Phillipsburg Theater is the oldest operating theater in the state. So it's not the oldest one ever made in the state, but it's the oldest operating. And if you've never been there, it's beautiful. You should definitely need to go. So awesome. I think the end goal though, once we're done with doing the whole uh premiere like the tour cycle, is to get it onto a streaming platform. Yeah. Uh we've got a couple connections that we're trying to kind of figure that out right now. But uh yeah, eventually we would like to have it somewhere where we can tell everybody like go to this app or this platform and you can watch it there.
SPEAKER_00Yeah.
SPEAKER_02Yeah.
SPEAKER_00It's awesome, guys. Well, thanks so much for just walking the road a little bit with me today and tell me about the film.
SPEAKER_02Of course, yeah, thank you for having us. Appreciate it, David.